Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-01-28

associations let me feel their influence"
ssWhere thou dwellest I will dwell. Thy
people shall be my people, thy God my God"
Open your doors, oh, church of God! and let
them come in "as doves to their windows"
Christ is the only shelter of the soul in
trouble. What can you do without him
when sorrow comes? Perhaps at first you
take valerian to quiet your nerves, OF alcohol
to revive your spirits; but have you found
anything in the medicines or physical stimuli
lants sufficient? Perhaps in the excitement
of the money market or in the merrymaking
of the club you have sought relief. This
world has no balsam for a wounded soul, no
shelter for a bruised spirit. The dove in the
time of the deluge flew north and it was all
water, in which were tossed the carcasses of
the dead world, and the first solid thing the
doves feet touched was the window of the
ark So the soul in trouble goes out in one
direction and finds nothing substantial to
rest upon, and in another direction and every
WHITTIER but there is no rest for the dove
save the ark.
Substantial comfort will not grow
In natures barren soil;
All we can boast till Christ we know,
Is vanity and toll.
But where the Lord has planted grace,
And made His glories known
There fruits of heavenly joys are found,
And there alone.
You lost a parent; some one said that it
was in the regular course of nature that your
father should expire Did that comfort you?
You lost a child; somebody said if that child
hadlived it might have turned out badly Did
that comfort you? You lost your property;
they told you that riches were very uncer-
tain. You knew that before. You were
TO
was in the secretions or in the sciatic nerve
Did that soothe you? 0, the despicable
quackery of earthly comfort! But when
Christ comes to the soul and says:
II took your estate because I wanted
to give you more valuable treasures; made
you sick in body that your soul might be
brought up to eternal health; took your
loved ones away because I have a better
and brighter place for them in my own pres
ence:n then the wound heals, then the tears
dry off the face, then God has become the
everlasting portion of the soul. Oh, the air
is full of black wings and ravens beaks.
They join their wings of darkness until they
shut out the light of the sun. They have fat
tened on the carcasseS of men. Their clangor
is horrible to the ear. Trouble and disease
and death coming down on the wind. No
wonder these souls have come for shelter ''as
doves to their windows" What does the
pigeon in the coop care for the hawk in the
sky:
Safe in Christ, safe forever. The mount
aims may depart, and the hills be removed,
but Thy loving kindness shall never fail.
Again: These souls, like doves, fly home.
Most of the winged denizens have no home;
now they are at the north and now at the
south, as the climate indicates. This year
nest in one tree, next year nest in another
tree The golden oriole remains but three
months of the year In Germany, and is then
gone. The linnet of Norway crosses the
ocean to find rest from the winters blast
The heron, the goldfnch and the grossbeak
are migratory. The cranes call each other
together several days before going, choose
their leader, arrange themselves in two lines,
forming an angle, and are gone. But the
pigeons alluded to in the text, summer and
winter and always, have home in the dove
cot. And SO Christ is the home of those who
come to him He is warm home; they rest
under the 'feathers of the Almighty" Christ
tells us that chickens find not warmer place
under the wing of the hen than we in Him.
He is a safe home; our fortunes may go
down ten degrees below zero, the SHOWS of
trouble may fall, the winds of persecution
may HOWL, bIo .1Ch6tlS VI COttUH llltty SUttlh
forth-all is well, for ''great peace have they
who trust in Cod" From this home we shall
never be driven out. The sheriff may sell us
out of our earthly house or the fires may
burn it down, or the winds carry it away,
but that home shall always be ours.
Men talk as though starting for God were
putting out on a trackless moor, or wandering
through the sands of a great Sahara. No,
;r Tot Io l,oc+ of
homes, "as doves to the windows"
Again: These souls to-day gathering for
membership, are like doves, because they
come in f1ocks. The buzzard, with dripping
beak, futtering up from the carrion, is alone.
You occasionally look up against the wintry
sky and see solitary bird winging past. But
doves or pigeons are in focks; by scores and
hundreds do they fly You hear the loud
whirr of their wings as they pass. So to-day
we see great flock coming into the king
dom. 1t is not a straggler, trying to
catch up with his regiment; it is
a solid phalanx, taking the king
dom. 1t is not a drop on your hand or
cheek that leaves you in doubt whether it
rains or not, but the rush of an unmistakable
shower
There are all ages in this flock Some of
them are young, and the very first use they
make of their wings is to fly into the king
dom. Some of them are DID, and their wings
have been torn with shot and ruff1ed with the
tempest, and they had almost dropped into
the sea. Some ef them have been making a
very crooked course. They dipped their wings
in fountains of sin-they wandered near the
gulf Of perdition; but they saw their danger
they changed their course. They have come |
at last "as doves to the windows"
thank God that have lived to see this |
day; to my dying hour I shall not cease to |
praise Him for this manifestation of His |
grace. Praise to Him, sun and moon and |
stars! Praise Him. church militant on earthl |
Praise Him, church triumphant in heavenl |
Let the church beneath raise up its right hand |
of graduation and the church above reach |
down its right hand of joy, and while the two
aresclasped let the elders of the church put to
our lips the wine of earthly celebration, and |
the cupbearers of heaven bring up out Of the |
vaults of eternity the Oldest wine, prepared
by Him who trod the wine press alone, and
SO let two worlds at once keep jubilee!
Who are these who come to us to-day? |
Many are young. Until Robert Raikes came
there was no organized effort for saving the ;
young. We spent all Of our strength trying
to bend old trees, when a little pressure would |
have been sufficient for the sapling. We let |
men go down to the very bottom of sin be-
fore we try to lift them up. It is greal deal
easier to keep train on the track than to get |
it on when it is off. The experienced reins-
man checks the fiery steep at the first jump,
for when he gets full swing, the swift hoofs
clicking fire from the pavement and the bit
between his teeth, his momentum is irresist-
ible 1t is said that the young must be al
lowed to SOW their "wild oats" I have
noticed that those who sow their wild oats
seldom try to raise any other kind of crop.
went through the heaviest snowstorm I !
have ever known to see a dying girl. Her
cheek on the pillow was white as the snow on
the easement. Her large round eye had not
lost any of its luster Loved ones stood all
around the bed trying to hold her back Her
mother could not give her up, her father
could not give her up, and one nearer to
her than either father or mother was
frantic with grief. I said: sFanny, how do
you feels" "Oh," she says, ''happy, happy,
Mr.. Talmage; tell all the young folks that
religion will make them happy" AS came